IN NEWS: Parliamentary Ethics Committee asks BJP MP to present evidence against Moitra
Moitra case:
- BJP MP Nishikant Dubey has been asked to present evidence in front of the Parliamentary Ethics Committee on October 26 to back his allegations that Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra took money to ask parliamentary questions.
Ethics Committee statement
- Mr. Dubey has been called along with advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai, Ms. Moitra’s former partner, who has been quoted in the BJP MP’s complaint.
Parliamentary Ethics Committee Genesis
- Recent trends in politics, however, appear to have created the impression that the capacity of our democratic system to ensure probity in public life is increasingly going down.
- Committee on Criminalization of Politics, headed by N.N. Vohra, formulated in 1993
- It recommended setting up a Parliamentary Committee on Ethics as distinct from the Committee of Privileges, which would act as a guardian over the activities of members of Parliament.
About the Ethics Committee
- Separate ethics committee for each house of parliament.
- There shall be a Committee on Ethics consisting of not more than fifteen members, including its Chairman, who are nominated by the Chairman or Speaker of Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha.
- The chairman of the committee is from the largest party in the House.
- Other members are normally the leaders, deputy leaders, or chief whips of their parties or groups in Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha.
- The members shall hold office for a term not exceeding one year.
- The report shall be presented to the Speaker, who may direct that the report be laid on the table of the House.
Functions
- To oversee the moral and ethical conduct of the members.
- To examine the cases referred to it with reference to ethical and other misconduct by the members.